PBPhoto

Livin' life. Tried this idea with a few backgrounds. Kept moving around trying to find something with some color. Tried the fence, not too exciting. Too much sky, nothing going on there either. I just like the green background.

Ah yes. The elusive Eli. It is rare to capture this one in his natural habitat. This one of the few photographs in the world of this particular species, boyus insanicus maximus.

While my older son has this whole photography thing down, this one runs like the wind when Daddy breaks out the camera. "No! Not take my pictur!" is the typical response. So this capture is a treat. I set up the lighting and do a few test shots before I bring in the "talent". Then I put something on the floor like a piece of paper and ask them to stand on it so that they are in the right spot.

So here I have my usual setup: 1 285HV into silver umbrella @ 1/4 power camera left. Silver Wal-Mart autoshade camera right. Sunpak 411 @ 1/2 power for background. Again with the dark green comforter for the backdrop.

Please critique if you have time.

Went to the beach last night to capture a moonrise. Those pics aren't posted because well, they stunk up the joint. But the trip was worth it to hang out with my little buddy. The colors of the sunset are really amazing. You read about waiting for these magic moments when the light is just right. They do happen. Amazing to think how often we miss them because of the business of living.

Please critique if you have time.

My wife came to get me last night as she woke our daughter up for eats. She had this really cute pose. It is obviously very tough being a little girl as evidenced by the stress and anxiety displayed in this photo.

Lighting here is a cruddy compact flourescent bulb in a floor lamp. It does provide some nice soft light bounced from the ceiling. I was able to get 1/50 @ 1.8 ISO800 with my 50mm 1.8. I like the softness. No post-processing on this one. Even the monochrome was done in-camera.

Please critique if you have time.

Trying this sort of street light look. The expression here is great. I said give me your best cool look. This is what I got. We were in a hurry to get a picture and get back inside before the mosquitoes carried me and my children away. I'll be so thankful when it starts to cool down.

If we would have had more time I would have like to bring up the ambient to fill in the shadows a bit. It was evening and there was still quite a bit of light available. Oh well this is what we got.

This is 1 285HV with a snoot @ 1/4 power. That's it.

Poor buddy. I have been accused of making him cry just for the opportunity to take a photo. I will admit that it makes for a good photo. However, I had nothing to do with him falling backward off the picnic bench on the playground and hitting his back. I tenderly said, "It'll be OK buddy. . .now tilt your head a little". :) It only hurt for a minute.

I took them outside to play and brought the flash and umbrella out just in case. I took some other photos of them on the swings but these stood out. Just have my 1 285HV into the same old silver umbrella @ 1/4 power. I have found that 1/4 power gives me f5.6 at ISO100 for best clarity.

So this is part of a monthly challenge from http://www.photochallenge.org. I really like doing these exercises because it forces me to shoot but I usually am not able to keep up for the whole month. Maybe this month will be better.

I'm very happy with this one. I used 1 285HV into silver umbrella 1/4 power camera right. 1 Sunpak 411 for background (green comforter over drape rod). 1 silver autoshade hanging from mic stand as reflector camera left. I like his expression and his eyes are very sharp. I did a little work in post cloning out some spaghetti from his lip and also used the unsharp mask for a little sharpening.

It is amazing what you have to go through to get the kiddos to stand in one spot for this kind of thing. They wanted me to take pictures of their cars and toys so I took a bunch of them holding their favorite toys (Snowspeeder, Bob The Builder, etc.) just to get the opportunity to take a real picture.

Please critique if you have time.

Another shoot for my wife's blog. Notice the differences between these James. So my two boys were having a knock-down drag-out fight over these things. I, in my most calm and rational voice, said "Have you lost your minds?!!! These things are exactly the same! Now go have a timeout in separate bedrooms!" So we do not let them come out until they have stopped crying so it sounds quiet and I let them come out. Hez starts out, his eyes red from crying, "No Daddy, that is not Eli's because mine has eyebrows!!!" I picked up the little engines to examine them. "Dog gone if you ain't right!" I said. Amazing how they study these toys and notice all the slight variations. So we considered that blog-worthy and I got to photograph the two engines.

Strobist: 1 285HV into silver umbrella choked up and crumpled a little @ 1/4 power camera right, 1 sunpak 411 @ 1/16 power gelled red for the background. Also had the everpresent FEDEX box for a reflector camera left. I put a piece of plexi over a black table top. Almost a granite thing going on. Using the gimp, I sharpened it a little and with the clone tool got rid of a little bleed through from the umbrella on the background.

Please critique if you have time.